Nut-Free Carrot Cake Bars
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If you’re anything like me and don’t have extra time to make a gorgeous 4 layer cake that looks like it was decorated by a professional then these no-fuss carrot cake bars are for you!
The texture of these carrot cake bars are a little more dense (BUT NOT DRY!!) compared to a cake, & the carrots offer up a sweet and moist consistency.
What ingredients do I need for carrot cake bars?
- Butter
- An egg
- Brown sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Coconut oil or vegetable oil
- Spices: cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground cloves, allspice, ground ginger
- All-Purpose Flour
- Baking powder and baking soda
- Salt
- CARROTS!
- Ingredients for frosting: cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla extract
Tips for making the best carrot cake bars:
Avoid these few pitfalls in order to make THEE best nut-free carrot cake bars:
Spicing up the carrot cake bars with several different spices is key.
Making it perfectly spiced is the GOAL. But, more isn’t always merrier! Try not to add in more spice than called for because you don’t want to steal the show from the natural sweet flavor of the carrots.
Use a microplane (a zester) to grate your carrots instead of the large holes on a cheese grater! The microplane creates an ultra fine carrot shred so they are evenly distributed throughout the bars instead of having big chunky grated carrots. (ew.)
Have fun with the add ons! But be careful, don’t add TOO many.
Choose between raisins or walnuts, or neither! Add in raisins (soak them in rum for ultra wow factor) or if you don’t live with anyone with allergies – add nuts! Toast up walnuts or pecans on the stove in a small skillet and add them into the batter of the bars.
Don’t add the cream cheese frosting until the bars are 100% cooled! (Typically takes 30-40 minutes for them to cool).
The cream cheese frosting is sweet, tangy and oh-so perfect so the last thing you want it to do is turn into a frosting disaster on your kitchen counter and not on your carrot cake bars!
How to make carrot cake bars
You will preheat the oven to 350° F. and prep your 8×8 in baking dish by spraying with a non-stick spray.
In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter. Let slightly cool.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the butter, egg, brown sugar, coconut oil, vanilla extract, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and whisk until combined. Add the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Stir until just combined; don’t over mix.
Add carrots and stir to combine. (You would add the nuts or raisins in here too if using.) Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
Bake for about 26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. Allow bars to cool in pan for about 30 minutes before frosting.
How to make the cream cheese frosting
In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened cream cheese until light and fluffy.
Gradually add in powdered sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time, until combined.
Add in the vanilla extract and milk and beat again until combined.
Easy, right? I hope you love this one!
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Nut-Free Carrot Cake Bars
Ingredients
For the bars
- 8 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup light brown sugar (packed)
- 2 tsp. coconut oil, melted (sub. vegetable oil)
- 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups All-Purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. ginger, ground
- 1/2 tsp. cloves, ground
- 1/2 tsp. allspice
- 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, ground
- 1 cup finely grated carrots (~1-2 large carrots)
- 3/4 cup raisins or walnuts (optional mix-ins)
For the glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 8 oz. softened cream cheese
- 1 Tbsp. milk
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Last step! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray an 8X8-inch baking pan with non-stick baking spray; set aside.
- In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter in 30 second increments until full melted. Let cool slightly for ~5 minutes.
- In a medium mixing bowl whisk the melted butter, egg, brown sugar, oil and vanilla extract together. Whisk until combined.
- In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and all the spices together.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet. Stir until just combined; don't over mix.
- Add carrots and any other mix-ins (raisins or walnuts). Stir to combine. (Batter will be thick).
- Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
- Bake for ~26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. Don't over bake – they will be dry. Allow bars to cool in pan for about 30 minutes before cutting and glazing.
Frosting
- In a large mixing bowl, use a hand held mixer to beat the softened cream cheese until light and fluffy. Gradually add in powdered sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time, until combined. Add in the vanilla extract and milk and beat again until smooth. This makes a lot of frosting which we love, but feel free to cut the recipe in half if you only want a little!
Video
Notes
- Add in nuts or raisins if desired. (~ 3/4 cup)
Nutrition Information
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is automatically calculated. It should only be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. Ingredients can vary and Kroll’s Korner can’t make any guarantees to the accuracy of this information.
Easy to make and tastes great but the baking time of 26min was no where close to enough for me. I followed the recipe exactly and the entire inside was still dough after 29th of baking. I had to bake it for nearly double the amount of time.
Hi Jessica! Did you bake them in a glass pan by chance? I have only tested this recipe out in an aluminized steel pan, glass pans usually increase bake time. Sorry about that!
I am so not over Easter and carrots yet! 😉 Sighting your recipe in the perfect time. Need to try thrm out, they look so tempting!
Wow these look fabulous! So thick and loaded with flavor…definitely craving one right now 😀
So chock full of flavors that those nuts won’t be missed! This looks like a keeper! Delish!
This was my first attempt at carrot cake and I’m so happy how it turned out! Will make again this Spring.
Yum! I love all things carrot cake and these make me watch to dive right in! Thanks for sharing, I can’t wait to try them out.
YUMMMMM! I love carrot cake 🙂 These sound SO good 🙂
Thanks Tara!! 🙂 It’s one of my favs tooo!
I like that this is a no-frills recipe with the same delicious taste as fancy carrot cake!
Great way to put it, thanks so much! <3
I ADORE carrot cake from a good bakery. But I’ll admit, I’ve rarely made it. This recipe will change that. Pinning!
Nothing beats good carrot cake, especially this time of year! Hope you find time to try it out – thank you! 🙂
ooo I’m drooling over here. It’s been AGES since I’ve had carrot cake!
Thank you Nicole!! These are easy and so moist!! <3